Kirby Ferguson Embrace the remix

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We're going to begin in 1964. Bob Dylan is 23 years old, and his career is just reaching its pinnacle. He's been christened the voice of a generation, and he's churning out classic songs at a seemingly impossible rate, but there's a small minority of dissenters, and they claim that Bob Dylan is stealing other people's songs.

2004. Brian Burton, aka Danger Mouse, takes the Beatles' "White Album," combines it with Jay-Z's "The Black Album" to create "The Grey Album." "The Grey Album" becomes an immediate sensation online, and the Beatles' record company sends out countless cease-and-desist letters for "unfair competition and dilution of our valuable property."

Now, "The Grey Album" is a remix. It is new media created from old media. It was made using these three techniques: copy, transform and combine. It's how you remix. You take existing songs, you chop them up, you transform the pieces, you combine them back together again, and you've got a new song, but that new song is clearly comprised of old songs.

But I think these aren't just the components of remixing. I think these are the basic elements of all creativity. I think everything is a remix, and I think this is a better way to conceive of creativity.

All right, let's head back to 1964, and let's hear where some of Dylan's early songs came from. We'll do some side-by-side comparisons here.

All right, this first song you're going to hear is "Nottamun Town." It's a traditional folk tune. After that, you'll hear Dylan's "Masters of War."

Jean Ritchie: ♫ In Nottamun Town, not a soul would look out, ♫

♫ not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down. ♫

Bob Dylan: ♫ Come you masters of war, ♫

♫ you that build the big guns, you that build the death planes, ♫

♫ You that build all the bombs. ♫

Kirby Ferguson: Okay, so that's the same basic melody and overall structure. This next one is "The Patriot Game," by Dominic Behan. Alongside that, you're going to hear "With God on Our Side," by Dylan.

Dominic Behan: ♫ Come all ye young rebels, ♫

♫ and list while I sing, ♫

♫ for the love of one's land is a terrible thing. ♫

BD: ♫ Oh my name it is nothin', ♫

♫ my age it means less, ♫

♫ the country I come from is called the Midwest. ♫

KF: Okay, so in this case, Dylan admits he must have heard "The Patriot Game," he forgot about it, then when the song kind of bubbled back up in his brain, he just thought it was his song.

Last one, this is "Who's Going To Buy You Ribbons," another traditional folk tune. Alongside that is "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right." This one's more about the lyric.

Paul Clayton: ♫ It ain't no use to sit and sigh now, ♫

♫ darlin', and it ain't no use to sit and cry now. ♫

BD: ♫ It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe, ♫

♫ if you don't know by now, ♫

♫ and it ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe, ♫

♫ it'll never do somehow. ♫

KF: Okay, now, there's a lot of these. It's been estimated that two thirds of the melodies Dylan used in his early songs were borrowed. This is pretty typical among folk singers. Here's the advice of Dylan's idol, Woody Guthrie.

"The worlds are the important thing. Don't worry about tunes. Take a tune, sing high when they sing low, sing fast when they sing slow, and you've got a new tune." (Laughter) (Applause) And that's, that's what Guthrie did right here, and I'm sure you all recognize the results. (Music) We know this tune, right?